[ Billy Bragg and Natalie Merchant ]







In a busy street

A man sits down

Oblivious to the traffic sounds

No chaos

No frenzied shrieking crowd

Thank God their silence

Walking heads bent down

Come when they saw us

Called it lethargy

The treadmill turns

There down below their feet



Should I pray for an end to come

Quickly (quickly), quickly (quickly)

Or cross the waves of an angry sea

Risking (risking)

And braving (braving)

The shipwreck and the mutiny assailing

Assailing



In a haunted doorway

And from the light of day

See another life fall to ruin in pain

False smiles from even children it seems

Landlocked ground for empty and lost dreams

A league against me

I hear him say

It's not worth half the effort

Or the price you pay



Should I pray for an end to come

Quickly (quickly), quickly (quickly)

Or should I raise my face to the heavens above

And tell God (dear God)

Stop jeering (and jeering)

As our human frailties and all

Our failings

Are we failing?



Pound pound on an endless street

Again and again the nightmare scene

All strained against the tightened rope

Not one with a lasting lingering hope

There's evidence everywhere you see

Put a quarter down at the newsstand

So that you can read



Should I pray for an end to come

Quickly (quickly), quickly (quickly)

Or should I raise my face to the clouds above

Entreating (entreating)

Their mercy (some mercy)

But as clouds will do

They'll rain down

First gently (gently) and sweetly (so sweetly)

Until they silence me

With a burst of thunder (thunder) and lightning (and lightning)

And helpless landlocked screaming

I know God must be agreeing

It's the worst part of watching

It's the worst part of watching

It's the worst part of watching

It's the worst part

Landlocked in screaming

God must be agreeing

To be helpless is the worst

Must be the worst part of watching

The worst part of watching